I’ve
worked in IT, in bureau, and banking, and service operations, as well as in coding
and software engineering, mainly writing educational software. I was a weather
forecaster once. I also had a long attachment to theatre and had forays into
small fringe productions, amateur dramatics, and almost made a career as a
theatre technician, lighting design and operating being my thing. I also tried
to become an academic mathematician, and spent years
tutoring maths and physics at various universities. I’ve also painted houses,
built houses, pruned kiwifruit, worked in factories making pasties and chicken
dinners, taught English in Korea, and many odd jobs. 
I have
lived in the UK for many years and travelled quite a bit around the world. I
have always been drawn to environmental activities and have often worked as a
volunteer for many environmental groups in New Zealand and around the world.
In the
last ten years I spent a long period looking after my elderly parents when they
both reached a point where they needed it. This was difficult since I was very
close to my father in particular. I lived on a carer’s
benefit to care for them 24/7. They both reached 90, and every day now I still
grieve the loss of my two best human friends.
I’ve
watched the slow train wreck of climate change for 40 years, but I’m burned out
and pessimistic about our chances to stop catastrophic effects, although 
supportive
of any little thing that will mitigate these effects. The depth of scientific
ignorance, even in people who should know better, is a perennial disappointment
to me.
The
accelerating extinction event is a daily grief.
I try
to travel as little as possible these days, have no children, and am
vegetarian. I grow much of my own food, live off-grid on a 600W of solar power,
and keep warm with a wood-burner. I care very deeply about 6 other stray cats
that hang around. Roger, Bertilda, Bazerina, Boswell, Beijing, and Yvette. They
get fed, desexed, and protected a little from the roaming dogs and vicious
domestic un-neutered tomcats. They are my entire family
since I lost Aris in 2021. Aris was a
beautiful black cat who was the centre of my world. He was rescued 17 years ago
and became my pivot and reason as all other relationships crumbled and family
disintegrated around me over the last few decades.
I am
trying to design and build my own house. The design keeps changing but is now a
cluster of 3 small geodesic domes, which I hope to build for under NZ$30,000.
In 2019 I did a pre-trades carpentry certificate to learn about house building.
I am now starting out on a Diploma of Architectural Technology at SIT in 2023,
as I learn how to be a proper designer of shelters.
I am
also slowly developing my little bit of land. It is 1600 m² of sloping and wet,
but fertile wasteland. I have been planting trees and plan to make the area
into a small food forest garden. To produce enough food to completely feed
myself is my goal. Complete self-sufficiency is actually my
longer-term goal, that is zero waste, nothing in, nothing out, complete onsite
recycling, little need to travel at all. One day, the only outgoings will be
the rates, and hopefully my surplus pumpkins will pay for that too! At that
point I will be wondering why I still pay rates.